Experience of 2003 SARS has a negative psychological impact on healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has instilled fear and stress among healthcare workers. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess work stress and associated factors among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak and to evaluate whether prior experience of treating severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had a positive or negative influence on healthcare workers' stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional survey in a tertiary hospital in Kaohsiung City, in southern Taiwan. METHODS: The survey was conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire to measure the stress levels among healthcare workers from March 20 to April 20, 2020. The stress scales were divided into four subscales: worry of social isolation; discomfort caused by the protective equipment; difficulties and anxiety regarding infection control; and workload of caring for patients. RESULTS: The total stress scores were significantly higher among healthcare workers who were aged 41 or above, female, married, parents and nurses. Those with experience of treating SARS reported having significantly higher stress scores on the subscale measuring the discomfort caused by protective equipment and the workload of caring for patients. During the COVID-19 outbreak, frontline healthcare workers with experience of treating SARS indicated having higher stress levels regarding the workload of caring for patients than did non-frontline healthcare workers with no experience of treating SARS. CONCLUSIONS: Work experience from dealing with the 2003 SARS virus may have had a negative psychological impact on healthcare workers amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

El Miedo en Relación a la Odontología Uso de la Escala del Miedo Dental / Fear in Relation to Dentistry Using the Dental Fear Scale

La atención odontológica despierta en numerosos pacientes, especialmente en los niños, miedo y ansiedad que pueden originar conductas de rechazo a la misma o dificultar el trabajo del profesional. Para registrar la prevalencia e identificar los miedos más frecuentes en relación a la atención odontológica, se realizó un estudio observacional, descriptivo y longitudinal en un trabajo interdisciplinario con Musicoterapia. Se utilizó la Escala del Miedo (CFSS-DS), Dental Subscale of the Childrens' Fear Survey. Los resultados en un promedio de edades en años 11,41; desvío = 2,80, registraron el 53% en la puntuación 38:39. Corresponde 54.34% al sexo femenino y 45.66% al sexo masculino. El mayor porcentaje de miedo se registró a los 10 años de edad 15.24% y en el sexo femenino 54.34%. En conclusión, registrar y reconocer los miedos dentales ofreció un espacio de reflexión y elaboración de los mismos, con docentes y alumnos de grado, para desarrollar, en un tratamiento interdisciplinario con musicoterapia, estrategias que favorezcan una mejor adherencia de los pacientes al tratamiento odontológico y habilidades inherentes y habilidades sociales inherentes a la relación odontólogo-paciente. El miedo manifiesto a la atención odontológica sin ser resuelto satisfactoriamente puede entorpecer las mejores intenciones del profesional en el desarrollo de su tarea (AU)

The analysis of the patients quality of life questionnaires with ultrasound ablation uterine fibroids / 重庆医学

Objective To know the relationship between the uterine fibroid symptom severity and the quality of life andthe correlation among all the subscales of the quality of life base through analysis of the questionnaires of the uterine fibroids health-related quality of life.Methods Retrospectively analyze the UFS-QOL subscales and SF-36 subscales of the 302 women with uterine fibroids who underwent ultrasound ablation in the high intensity focused ultrasound center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in 2013.Results The Cronbach'sa of the UFS-QOL symptom severity subscale and the HRQL subscales were 0.794 and 0.953,reflecting adequate internal consistency.Except the sexual function field,the symptomatic group reported significantly greater symptom severity and worse health-related quality of life(HRQL) than the asymptomatic group(P＜ 0.05).Spearman's correlations between the symptom severity subscale and each HRQL subscales were moderately in the asymptomatic group,there was a linear positive correlation between the UFS-QOL subscales of activities,energy/mood and control(P＜ 0.05).In the symptomatic group,there was a linear negative correlation between the symptom severity subscale and the UFS-QOL subscales of concern,activities,energy/mood(P＜0.05),and there was a linear positive correlation between the UFS-QOL subscale of activities and the UFS-QOL subscales of concern,energy/mood.Conclusion Uterine fibroids related symptoms have an impact on the quality of life in women with uterine fibroids,and the assessments among the subscales of the quality of life influence each other.

Clinical Validation of the Psychotic Depression Assessment Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-6, and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-5: Results from the Clinical Research Center for Depression Study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to validate the psychotic depression assessment scale (PDAS), which includes the six-item melancholia subscale from the Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-6) and the five-item psychosis subscale from the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS-5). Data from the Clinical Research Center for Depression (CRESCEND) study, which is a 52-week naturalistic trial, were analyzed. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with psychotic depression from the CRESCEND study met our inclusion criteria. The patients underwent the following psychometric assessments: the PDAS, including HAMD-6 and BPRS-5, the clinical global impression scales, the HAMD, the positive symptom subscale, and the negative symptom subscale. Assessments were performed at the baseline and then at weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, and 52. Spearman correlation analyses were used to assess the clinical validity and responsiveness of the PDAS. RESULTS: The clinical validity and responsiveness of the PDAS, including HAMD-6 and BPRS-5, were acceptable, with the exception of the clinical responsiveness of the PDAS for positive symptoms and the clinical responsiveness of BPRS-5 for negative symptoms. CONCLUSION: The clinical relevance of the PDAS has been confirmed and this clinical validation will enhance its clinical utility and availability.

Development of the Social Perception Scale for Cognitive Rehabilitation in Patients with Schizophrenia / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: This research was performed in order to develop the social perception scale which could detect the deficits of the social perception, composed of visual perception and contextual perception, in the patients with schizophrenia and might have the desirable reliability and discriminating power between the patients with schizophrenia and the normal controls, and so as to be appropriate to the schizophrenics' cognitive rehabilitation strategy of Brenner, et al. METHODS: We selected 10 photographs among 30 photographs which could show the variable social situations according to the consensus of the staff members of the Integrated Psychological Therapy. Then we developed the questions, composed of visual perception subscale and contextual perception subscale, which we called preliminary social perception scale. We tested the above scale to the 20 patients with schizophrenia in the chronic mental hospital. Then we tested the above scale to both the 20 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia in the closed ward of the university psychiatric hospital and the 20 normal controls. We developed the final social perception scale to exclude the items of inadequate reliability. We compared the item difficulties of social perception scale between the patients in the chronic mental hospital and those in the university psychiatric hospital. finally, we compared the scores of social perception scale between the patients with schizophrenia and the normal controls. RESULTS: The final 6 items were selected to become the social perception scale according to the values of the item-total correlation, test-retest reliability, and interrater reliability. The final social perception scale showed similar rank of item difficulties between two groups with schizophrenia. The patient group differed significantly fiom the normal control group on the scores of contextual perception subscale(t=-3.09, p<.01) and the total scores of social perception scale(t= -3.33, p<.01). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the above social perception scale which has excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability, interrater reliability and the discriminating power. This scale can be applied to both the cognitive rehabilitation strategy in the patients with schizophrenia and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the cognitive rehabilitation.